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Vikings seeking win and some help

Dec 30, 2007 - 11:25 AM Minnesota (8-7) at Denver (6-9) 4:15 pm EST

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Vikings had held their postseason fate in their hands. Now they need a helping hand to get into the playoffs.

The Vikings close out the regular season with a road game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday knowing a victory still will not ensure their season will continue.

Minnesota squandered a chance to wrap up an NFC wild card berth with last weekend's 32-21 home loss to the Washington Redskins.

The defeat was even more damaging in that it allowed the Redskins to wrest control of the chase for the final wild card slot.

If Washington beats the visiting Cowboys on Sunday, it will leave the Vikings out of the playoffs despite an improbable late-season surge that had produced five consecutive victories prior to the loss to the Redskins.

"For us, it's down to one game; all we can do is control what we can do," Minnesota coach Brad Childress said. "We have got nothing to do with the Dallas-Washington game, nor can we worry about that. We need to worry about the Denver Broncos."

One positive for the Vikings is that the Broncos have given opponents little to worry about in the past few weeks.

Monday night's 23-3 loss to the San Diego Chargers was the second in a row and fourth in five weeks for Denver.

The Broncos have allowed 125 points combined in their last four defeats and were dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against San Diego.

"It's the hardest season I've had since I've been coaching," Denver coach Mike Shanahan said. "There's no question about that. That's part of this game. You've got to work through it. Each week you get ready to tee it up again. Hopefully, we can fair a little bit better this weekend than last weekend."

Granted, the Broncos are much better at home and historically have fared well against NFC teams under Shanahan, posting an 18-7 mark at Mile High Stadium since 1995.

Quarterback Jay Cutler will look to rebound from a dismal effort against San Diego, in which he threw two interceptions, lost a fumble and was sacked four times.

His counterpart, Tarvaris Jackson, struggled for the second straight week, completing 25-of-41 for 220 yards and a touchdown pass while also running for one. But he was also intercepted twice in the first half and has been picked off five times in the past two games.

The Vikings likely will lean on rookie running back Adrian Peterson against the porous Denver defense.

Peterson was phenomenal early in the season, setting a league record with 296 yards rushing against San Diego, but he hasn't been the same since returning from a knee in Week 13.

In the past three games, Peterson has managed just 108 yards on 43 carries.